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Average Reviewer Rating:

Number of Reviews:
15

( Displaying Reviews:
11 - 15 )

10/12/02 - 10/15/02

Reviewer: heidej
Kettle Falls, WA
October 21, 2002

I would definitely stay here again just for the nice sized family suites. We had a 3 room family suite which had a main room with queen bed, another bedroom with bunkbeds and yet another seperate bedroom with a daybed & TV. Our kids (ages 4 & 7) slept in the bunkbeds and used the daybed room as their TV room. So NICE for everyone to have their own space! The rate was $149.00 per night.

The Anabella itself is a nice looking property but they have skimped on a lot of the more luxurious touches that I've come to expect. The beds and pillows were hard as rocks. There were no dressers or armoires to be found in the room (who wants to live out of a suitcase?). The shower head was only 5 feet off the ground??? The kids were the only ones able to rinse their hair in comfort. There are plantation type shutters on the windows that allow a lot of light in. This was annoying for my husband and I since our room overlooked the brightly lit parking lot.

The restaurant at the hotel (Tangerine Grill) was very good. I do wish they offered a continental breakfast so that we could load up on muffins, juice & coffee to eat in the room while everyone is waiting impatiently for Mom to get ready in the morning :)

The pool and hot tub area was very nice and there were plenty of towels. The gym and business center also looked nice and well kept but who has time for that stuff when you're at Disneyland with your family? LOL

The staff was always very kind and helpful even though the hotel was very busy while we were there (Microsoft conference).

All in all I would stay there again because I cannot stand staying in your typical 2 bed, one room hotel room with my kids & my husband and I all stacked up like sardines. Hopefully more hotels will start offering these family suites.

Until I read the other reviews, I wouldn't have thought this hotel was a compilation of 3 older motels - the atmosphere was very nice and it felt like a resort. Even though we live 35 miles away from Anaheim we felt like we were on a real vacation.

I found out about the Anabella Hotel while looking for a last-minute place to stay on HotelKingdom.com a few days before Labor Day. I wasn't expecting much from a $69.00/night hotel on a 3-day weekend, but this hotel really impressed me! I thought this hotel was very fancy and I felt a little awkward at the check-in desk in my flip-flops and t-shirt while behind me the concierge explained some travel tips to group of people in business attire. Obviously the hotel staff is used to the mix of leisure and business travelers, so I didnt have a need to feel awkward, but when you first walk in, it doesn't feel like you're within walking distance of a major theme park! The staff was very polite and explained everything from the shuttle service to the business center hours to us before we left the front desk.

Room - Compared to the rooms of other reviewers of this hotel, our room was small: two full-size beds, mini fridge, TV with Nintendo and internet, and a granite bathroom with a shower (not a tub). There was also a small table and two chairs. It was a little bit cramped, but not unbearable. Now that I know there are larger rooms, I'll make sure to ask for one next time. The room was very clean. All of the furnishings and bedding seemed relatively new. The beds had lots of pillows, sleeping and decorative my decorating-maniac mom loved it! Our room was in the building facing DCA and closest to the "adult" pool. The building was 3 stories with no elevator. Our shower drain backed up and housekeeping/facilities had it fixed in no time. The staff also called to make sure everything else was ok.

Transportation - there's a shuttle that runs most of the day between most/several hotels in the Anaheim Resort area. We were given a free shuttle pass at the hotel (and the pass was good for one month!) and the stop was about 25 yards from the front entrance of our hotel. You could walk to Downtown Disney, but it was hot so we didn't try. I don't know where you catch the Lion King tram, but other reviewers mention that it is within walking distance also.

Security - I was surprised that the rooms all opened to the outside (no interior corridors) and thought that should have been explained in the hotel descriptions (Expedia, HotelKingdom and the hotel's own site didn't mention that). Note that the rooms do not open to the street, they open to the outside - you have to get onto the property (driving or walking) through one of two archway entrances before you can get to a room. Even though, I would have liked to have known that the rooms were motel style if you are on a 1st floor room, cars can park in front of your door, good if it is your car obviously, but do you really want headlights shining through your windows at night?

I felt that the property was very safe, and I saw security guards discreetly patrolling throughout the day and night.

Another security measure is that the hotel also issues paper parking passes for you to leave in your car they really keep an eye out for non-guests parking on the property!

You couldn't hear any street noises although you could hear happy people screaming on the rides at DCA.

Facilities - We didn't use the pools or the restaurant because we spent a lot of our time at the park. We weren't offered a free breakfast as was done for other reviewers, but we were given a card for 15% off food purchases made during the length of our stay. The gift shop was about average, snacks, trinkets, etc. Two coffee shops/family style restaurants are about 1 minute away: Tiffy's and Coco's. We also didn't use the fitness room, but we did look at it, it seemed clean and you need your guest key to access it.

Value - our room was $69+whatever taxes they added on. Rack rates I've seen run from $129-$189. The price must change if there's an event at the Convention Center or on holidays, but Id check often to see what comes up, remember we got this rate for a 3-day weekend. In terms of value, I don't think you can beat this!

I think we got lucky with this internet reservation roll of the dice and I would definitely stay at this hotel again!

10
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10
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Sept 14 - 18

Reviewer: LynnP
Medicine Hat, AB - Canada
September 27, 2002

Rate: ~$55.00/night through Expedia for a room with 1 queen bed and a pull-out sofa. The room was quite nice, with 2 television sets and a nice sofa to rest on in the evenings. I'll break down the review into several sections. Service: The front desk staff was quite nice. We had no wait checking in and they were helpful in explaining the bus system, etc. The housekeeping was good. The room was very clean. The only problem being that one day we weren't given any towels. I phoned down, however, and they brought some very quickly. Room: The room was very big for 2 people. It was quiet at night and everything was clean, as I said. The bed was comfortable, though I don't think it was a queen. The only problem was that we had bought muffins, etc for breakfast in the room during our stay and the first morning I woke up and found small bugs crawling on them. Obviously, we didn't leave any food laying around after that, and didn't notice ants again. Location: When I researched hotels, I really wanted one that would be within walking distance. I had visited Disney before but only before California Adventure so the terrain was unfamiliar to me. I didn't know which hotel would be closer and from the info, it seemed we would have been able to walk. We walked a couple of times including late at night after some drinks at Downtown Disney - side note - I am from a small town in Canada and quite suspect of walking after dark in a city, but this didn't scare me one bit - the walk was quite far, however, so we often chose the transit system, which was excellent and easy to follow. Overall, I would recommend this hotel. Hopefully my infestation was a isolated incident.

On our last visit to the DLR we decided to stay here after it was recommended to us by the friends we were travelling with who had stayed here before (we had previously stayed at the Howard johnson, and enjoyed it)Our experience of the Anabella was a mixed one. Both our rooms (we were 2 couples travelling together) were on the far side of the complex, and were okay. They were on the small side, and I was a little disappointed with the bathroom in our room. The tub was a little too small, and the room itself was quite cramped (to top it off, there was no hot water on the day we checked out). I felt that the bathroom at the Ho Jo was much nicer.The service varied from very good to quite rude and condescending on a couple of ocacssions, which was a pity. However, the on-site restaurant was quite good (although very busy at breakfast-time, resulting in some delays), and we enjoyed using the larger of the 2 pools. I think that next time we visit the resort we will try and stay at one of the Disney properties (ideally the Grand Californian, if the NZ dollar can afford it!), or we will return to the Howard Johnson.

After the six hour road trip from Phoenix, anything would have looked good to our party; but the Annabella was astonishing. The property is as beautiful as any "true" resort I've ever seen and sparkling clean. I couldn't believe we were staying here at (yes, you are reading this correctly) $59 a night for a mini-suite. My son loved his little room with the daybed and his own TV (and daddy and I LOVED the extra privacy). And entirely granite bathrooms--WOW! Kudos as well for the quality of the bedding and towels. The staff went beyond adequately efficient and friendly. The mini-suite was perfect for our small family with plenty of closet and drawer space. We even had a decent view of the fireworks, though it was partially blocked by the DCA Screamer. The pool was sparkling clean and quite lovely. Within arguable walking distance (definitely not in the heat and humidity experienced during our stay!), we preferred the resort trolley. Even though the Annabella is right across from the park on busy Katella, it was quiet and restful. I would recommend the Annabella to anyone as a quality property and a truly outstanding value.

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